Specialist lender Together has appointed John Barker to be its group new chief operating officer. 

Barker joins from Target Group where he was CEO, having previously held the COO role at the firm. He has also worked for Capita, where he was managing director, and Co-operative Insurance. 

In his new role Barker will be responsible for operations across the Together business, which covers residential and commercial lending, with a loan book of £6.2bn. He will also oversee the company’s “ambitious” modernisation and transformation programmes.

Barker says this will include reviewing the digital customer journey and creating a more user-friendly IT experience. This latest appointment follows a number of senior hires and promotions at the lender.

Together’s CEO designate Gerald Grimes says:  “This appointment demonstrates how crucial our operational teams are in the ongoing success of our business. [Barker] has a proven track record of people and purpose-led service and technology transformation.”

Together latest results for the quarter ending March 31, showed its lending had grown to £6.2billion, an increase of 29.1% on the same period for the previous year, and up 4.6% on the previous quarter.